July 15th, 2005
Chemotherapy Pause is Over
Spencer’s counts looked good on Tuesday, so we anticipated going forward with chemotherapy today. We did that, though as it turns out his official counts are a little below the checkpoint requirement. Today the fun begins. Here is how today played out.
The day started at 6:15 when Rachel and I dragged ourselves out of bed to shower and prepare for the day. Jacob and Spencer woke up at about 6:40 and Jacob got to have some breakfast. The rest of are NPO because Spencer has a procedure. Early in his treatment we agreed that when he can’t eat, we don’t eat. The oncologist appointment was at 8:30 and we met Paul Walhus in the lobby to join us for videotaping. Although the Discovery Network gang is off to France to tape the Tour de France, they still want some tape from us of Spencer’s oncologist visit, watching the first day in the Pyrenees, and again on the last day of the Tour. In our hectic rush to get ready, I forgot to put Spencer’s numbing cream on so we had Jennifer do that as soon as we got to the office. Next came the usual pre-oncologist stuff: measuring weight, blood pressure, pulse, and height. Then the Dr. Wells (Dr. Sharp is on vacation) came in with two medical students in tow. We asked permission to film and then went with a normal checkup. Jennifer, Spencer’s nurse, came in to access his port and draw blood. Accessing the port is poking a needle attached to a line (tubing) into Spencer’s chest. The machine count had ANC of 1200, so we looked good to go.
We headed down to day surgery and got in quickly. After filling out more paperwork and answering the same set of questions about medications, allergies, and the like, Spencer went in for his procedure at 10 AM. The procedure itself is a lumbar puncture and chemotherapy and takes about 5-10 minutes. By 11 AM, Spencer was out of the recovery room and getting IV fluids to prepare for chemotherapy.
Back up in the “fish room” at the oncology office, we spent 4 more hours while Spencer received cytarabine (aka ARA-C) and cyclophosphamide chemotherapy and a bunch of fluid to help him stand the chemotherapy. The cytarabine is the first of four daily intravenous infusions—the rest we get to do at home. Dr. Wells writes the orders to leave Spencer accessed and has us do all three days of IV at home and then de-access Spencer. Dr. Sharp has written orders for the previous two rounds to have us come back to the office on the fourth day. De-accessing seems pretty easy, so I like have fewer oncologist visits.
After that, it’s home to watch a show, eat dinner, and crash after a busy day.
